All I want for Christmas
by Miss Barbara
Summary: Who new that dressing up as a reindeer could have so much consequences?


I do not now, nor will i ever own NCIS.

I also want to thank Emerald for the idea of the baby's in the hospital and the beta reading! You are the best!!

It was suppose to be a one shot, but it didn't work out that way.

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Prologue

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Gibbs sighed. He had no idea why he was doing this. It was Christmas evening and he was dressed up as Santa. His fake beard itched and he was growing tired of all the crying kids.

Vance had volunteered his team to go to the shelters and orphanages to bring the people there some presents. He looked at his team and smiled. Abby and Ziva made two lovely elves, walking around and chatting with the children. Tony was more of a naughty elf, talking and flirting to every woman between 18 and 40, acting like an idiot.

And then there was poor McGee; he was wearing the reindeer-costume. He had lost paper-rock-scissors from Tony, so he had to dress up as Santa's reindeer.

And Gibbs was Santa of course, that was not something that they had to discuss.

Abby and Ziva were having the time of their lives, talking to the children, and handing them presents and candy. Gibbs had to admit, looking at all these happy faces made him happy too.

He Ho-Ho-Ho-ed one last time and gathered his elves so he could leave. But just when he was ready to walk out of the door, a little boy was tugging on his robe.

"Hello there, little fellow!" he greeted the boy, acting as much as Santa Claus as he could. "What can I do for you?"

The boy could not be older then 4 years, but when Gibbs looked in to his eyes, he saw so much more wisdom and pain that any four your old should have.

"Could you please bwing back my mommy and daddy?" the little boy asked him with tears in his eyes.

This was an orphan home, Gibbs thought so his parents were probably dead. "I don't know", Santa answered. "Do you know where they are?"

The little boy nodded with his big puppy dog eyes. "They awe in heaven, with Jesus."

In the background Abby grabbed Tim's hand; she had a lump in her throat.

The little boy pointed up to the sky. "Jesus lives thewe, and you have a sleigh, and it is a magic sleigh which can fly. So maybe you can fly to my pawents and bwing them back."

The boy had now a hopeful smile on his face. "You awe Santa, you can do that" he said matter of factly.

Gibbs cleared his throat. He had no idea how he was going to explain to the little boy that he could not bring back his parents. But to his surprise McGee stepped forward. He knelt down so he could look in the boy's eyes.

"Santa has no superpowers" he said simply. "He can bring lots of gifts to children, but he can't bring back parents" he ruffled the boys hair. "I am so sorry" he said pulling the boy in a hug.

After a while Tim released the little boy from the hug, and the boy went back to Gibbs. "Can you find me new pawents?" he asked hopefully. "I am Kay, and I am this old," he said while showing a hand with 4 raised fingers to Gibbs. "I am vewy nice and I like to clean up."

Feeling a lot happier now he skipped away, back to the community room to open his presents.

Abby and Ziva had tears in their eyes and even Tony was suspiciously quiet.

They all stood a few minutes in silence before Tony nudged Gibbs. "Come on boss, one more address and then we can go to the agency's Christmas party."

The last address was a homeless shelter and within an hour they were back at the office. Most of the people present were in a party mood but Team Gibbs was silent, their minds wandering off to little Kay.

That night McGee was tossing and turning beside his wife. "Would you please stop that?" she asked him, irritated. "I am trying to get some sleep here."

He apologized to her which she answered with a playful pinch.

But no matter what he tried, there was no way that he was able to fall asleep tonight, so he climbed out of the bed, kissed his wife and walked to their living room.

He ruffled Jethro's ears who looked confused up to his boss, he should be in bed, not awake, the dog thought.

He walked over to the computer and turned the machine on. Maybe a little research for his next book would make him sleepy. But before he knew it he was looking up information about adoption children.

After half an hour he had made up his mind.

He sat behind his typewriter and wrote a letter, placed in an envelope, wrote 'for my dear wife' on it and placed in beneath the Christmas tree. This was the best present ever. He went to bed and had no trouble falling asleep this time.

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Chapter 1

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The next morning McGee was giggling like a little girl. He was poking and prodding Ziva so she would wake up.

"Come on Zee, it is time to open presents!" he said cheerfully while bouncing on the bed.

Ziva on the other hand didn't feel like waking up and tried to push Tim of the bed. When she noticed that he would not stop she stood up, and pressed herself up to Tim, kissing him and her hands playing with his hair.

When neither of them had any breath left she let him go and jumped of the bed. "Presents!" she said while running to the living room, only to be greeted by a very cheerfully Jethro. When he too got his proper good morning greeting, Ziva walked over to the tree.

There were gifts for Tim, Ziva and Jethro, but also for Tony, Abby, Jimmy, Ducky and Gibbs, who would come by later for a giant, homemade, Christmas dinner.

Tim was standing beside her and slipped an arm behind her back, it was their first Christmas as a married couple, and he loved every second of it.

"I have a special gift for you" he said. "I know that we wouldn't exchange gifts until the others are here, but this one is special." He bent down and grabbed an envelope and handed it to her.

Suddenly his present didn't feel like a good idea anymore, but it was too late. Ziva opened the letter and started to read it.

She began to shake and tears welled up in her eyes. He knew that it had been a bad idea, but when he tried to apologize she hugged him. "I love this idea Tim!"

_~Flashback~_

_"Yes Tim, i want to marry you!"_

_A deadly pale, shivering and terrified McGee had proposed to her, and she had __accepted._

_Tim jumped up and hugged her. "I love you" he said before kissing her._

_"You know..." she started, but for some reason she hesitated to continue. _

_"... I know" McGee said. "I know that you can't have children, but i don't care. We can adopt and love them if they were our own."_

_Ziva __smiled. With her last fear taken away there was nothing that could stop her from becoming Ziva McGee._

_~End Flashback~_

While Tim was taking a shower she was reading the letter over and over again. He was proposing to adopt Kay, giving him the best Christmas present ever.

They hadn't talked about adopting yet, but now seemed as good a time as ever. They would have to move, and they both would works less hours, but having a child of their own seemed worth it all.

He came out of the shower, wearing only a towel, she ruffled his floppy hair and kissed his cheek. He was so excited that he almost started to stammer again.

"Can we tell the team?" he asked, reminding her of a child himself, with his boyish futures and big eyes.

She smiled. "Yes we can" she smiled and as a smile appeared that could crack his face.

"Tim" she said, looking him in his eyes "You do realize the sacrifices we need to make, yes?" Before he could answer she continued. "We need to move, we need to spend less hours at work, raising a child is a big responsibility."

His face fell and he grabbed her hands. "Do you mean that you changed your mind?" he asked her, afraid of the answer.

"No!" she shouted, I was just wondering if you realize what it means to raise a child.

"I don't" he admitted "But i am planning on finding out together with you!" They smiled and he grabbed her arm, pulling her in the bathroom. "We need to get ready for the big dinner" he said, while his hands were pulling sleep-shirt over her head. She giggled while she opened his towel and dragged him in the shower with her.

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Chapter 2

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A few hours later the guests arrived and packages where laid under the tree. Jethro was sniffing every present, he had tried to open some but that got him a reprimand from Tim.

Everyone ate, and enjoyed it because Ziva was an excellent cook, they laughed about Ducky's stories and simply enjoyed being together outside of work.

After dinner Abby, Tony and Tim were really curious about their presents and they decided to open them all now.

Everyone opened their presents, admired their gifts, thanked each other and where happy.

Jethro got a year supply of bones and toy's.

Gibbs got a box with tools that he could use to work on his boat, since no one did know what to buy for he they had all chipped in for this big gift.

Everyone had bought Ducky a book and everyone laughed at the coincidence, but Ducky claimed that he loved them all.

Tony received a wonderful pair of gloves and a box of movies, the best of James Bond, collector's edition.

Abby got a lot of gothic stuff which made her also happy, the best present she got was a scarf with built in Christmas tunes, she refused to take it off.

Palmer was very happy when he opened his gifts. Somehow everyone had bought him a really weird thing that fitted his personality. Abby, for instance, had bought him an USB hamster. You plug it in you computer and when you type it runs.

For Tim there was an envelope with two tickets for a cruise with Ziva. They hadn't been on a honeymoon yet and this seemed like a good idea.

And Ziva got a beautiful dress, with shoes and lingerie, to wear on her honeymoon. Tony winked. She smiled. "I don't think I will be wearing clothes" she replied, making Tim blush.

When everyone had unwrapped their presents and was done thanking each other, Tim stood up, pulling Ziva with him.

"Uh, we have something to announce" he said while clearing his throat. Abby was about to jump up and start to guess but Gibbs hold her back.

"Ziva and I always wanted children, but because of some uh, medical condition, we are not able to have kids." Tony was about to make a comment about McGee not being fertile but a head slap from Ducky stopped him. "So we decided that we are going to try and adopt Kay." he said, waiting for the reactions of his friends.

The following five seconds felt like the longest in his live, but then everyone stood up, and there was hugging, congratulating and happiness.

"Congrats! McShooting-Blanks" Tony said while pulling him in to a hug "You will make a great father."

After that Abby congratulated him. At least he thought she was congratulating him, she was talking so fast that there was no way a human could understand her without slowing her down.

Gibbs patted him on the shoulder while Ducky launched in to a story about some time, long ago, when he had consider adopting.

Ziva and Tim stood in the middle of the room, glowing and enjoying the attention.

After half an hour Tony was bored "Let's was a movie" he said popping the dvd in the player, as everyone sat down on the ground, couch or chairs. Ziva sneaked to the kitchen grabbing popcorn and drinks.

Nobody noticed that Jimmy was quiet, more quiet than usual.

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Chapter 3  
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When the movie ended everyone made their excuses and left, but Jimmy lingered a little bit longer. Ziva was cleaning up in the kitchen when Palmer walked over to Tim.

"I don't know how far you looked in to the adoption procedure yet, but you will need recommendation letters. I am willing to write one for you guys, they will take mine more serious because I am adopted myself." Before McGee could answer Jimmy left, walking out of the door with his coat in his arms.

Tim went into the living room and gathered some stuff. With his arms full of glasses and bowls he got to the kitchen.

"Did you know Jimmy was adopted?" he asked while unloading his arms.

"No, I did not" Ziva answered. "Well, apparently he is, he just told me, but before I could ask any further he left." McGee wondered.

With his arms now empty he stood behind Ziva, hugging her from behind he whispered in her ear. "Let's start the process as soon as possible" he nuzzled his head in her neck and sniffed her scent.

They had been together now for a little more than 4 years and every day he was happier than the past.

Lost in her thoughts, Ziva enjoyed the feeling of McGee leaning on her. He had been nothing but supportive; their first year of dating had been secretive. They were afraid that Gibbs would slap then silly and Tony would never stop nagging about it.

But their relation had gone better than either of them could have predicted and after two years they were living together. Shortly after they moved in together he had proposed to her, and a few months later, in early spring they were married.

They had never talked to anyone about the fact that she wasn't able to have kids.

Tim knew why, and her father knew it too but no one else. And even though Tim always had pictured himself having lots of his own kids, but he didn't care anymore. He wanted to be with Ziva more than anything else.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Tim moved away from her. "Ziva!" he said, he sounded urgent, he had probably talked to her before. "Yes Timmy" she responded.

"Tomorrow we can make a list of things we need to do before this can happen", he said waving with his hands. He probably meant the adoption Ziva thought, so she nodded.

He was excited as a young puppy, and Ziva smiled. This was one of the sides that people rarely saw about him, at work he was usually serious and hard working, but at home, he could be a totally different person. She loved his playful and silly side.

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Chapter 4

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The next months went by in a blur of interviews with people from the child services, looking for houses, learning and taking test.

But before they knew it July was there and the envelope arrived. Both were sitting at the kitchen counter, staring at the envelope.

That envelope held the answer; were they allowed to adopt Kay, or another child, or weren't they allowed to adopt at all.

Neither of them dared to open it. An hour went by and not even Ziva had tried to open it.

All of a sudden McGee jumped out of his chair, startling Ziva. "This is ridiculous" he said, grabbing the letter. "We can't change the outcome by staring at it."

He opened the envelope and grabbed the letter. He started reading and after a few seconds he got the largest smile possible. This was a big enough sign for Ziva. She ran towards him and launched herself at him, knocking them both over.

They lay on the ground, laughing, giggling and kissing. They both felt relieved, tension that had build up in the past months came loose. Jethro had no idea what was going on but that didn't keep him for joined the party.

With a happy bark and a waggling tail he jumped around the pair, letting them know that even he was excited.

After an hour they were tired from their play and stood up from the ground. Ziva grabbed the letter from under the couch and continued to read it on her own.

'… we are happy to announce that we can give you green light to adopt a child...'

'… you are free to contact you case worker to discuss who you want to adopt or go and visit some orphan homes...'

The letter was signed with the name of their social service worker. It was past five, so they decided that they would contact her first thing tomorrow.

McGee picked up the phone and called the team together, after that he ordered a giant order of Chinese take-out. Today they would celebrate the beginning of a new life.

Everyone was happy for them, just as they expected, Abby was talking about having a giant party, Gibbs just smiled.

"And of course I have to teach him how to act manly and how to be a womanizer" Tony said. "He clearly won't learn it from you!"

McGee tried to give him a hurt look but his big smile gave him away. He punched Tony playfully on his arm and guided everyone to their dining room. Living in a bigger house had its benefits Tim thought.

While everyone chattered he sat in silence. He was going to be a father.

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Chapter 5

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First thing next morning they called the social service employee. The woman was very friendly and promised to phone the orphanage Kay was living in.

They sat by the phone and waited for news. There were so focused on the phone that they both jumped up from their chairs.

"McGee" Tim answered.

He listened to the woman on the other side of the phone, nodded a few time and said a couple of times "Hmm, yes" he ended the phone call and turned to Ziva.

She could see that there was something wrong but she decided to let him process the information before she would ask a question.

"Kay has already a family" he said while his face fell. "I know that I should be happy for him, but I kinda looked forward to adopting him"

Ziva pulled him in to a hug "i know how you feel" she said while trying to hold her tears back. They held on to each other for almost an hour before he let her go.

"Let's go to work" he said, rubbing the last tears of her cheeks. The fact that they had to face their co-workers didn't make it any easier, but they couldn't hide forever.

When they walked in to the bullpen Tony and Gibbs saw that something went wrong but they decided not to ask, they would tell it on their own time.

The day went by with some muffled sobs from Ziva and an extremely irritated Tim. A few minutes before it was time to go home, Tim told them shortly what happened, after that he walked over to Ziva's desk, grabbed her hand and walked away.

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Chapter 6  
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They next few weeks neither of them spoke about adoption again. The door to the room that they had silently addressed as 'Kay's room' stayed closed.

On a stormy day in October they were both watching a television show, but neither was paying attention.

"I think that we should consider another child" Ziva said. "I still want kids," she added when he didn't respond immediately.

"Me too" McGee responded, 'I guess we were too focused on getting Kay, so much that we didn't even consider the possibility that he could be adopted by the time that we got that far."

He pulled Ziva closer to him on the couch and turned the sound from the TV off. "What do you think, should we adopt a baby or an older child?" he asked her, uncertainty shimmering through his voice.

"I don't know" Ziva replied "I mean, a baby would probably feel more like our own child from the beginning, but older children have less change of being adopted."

McGee blushed "I've done some thinking, and I think that I would prefer a baby. It would feel more like our child you know, raising it from the very beginning."

"I understand" Ziva said "it is all the same to me, I think that I could love every child equally"

McGee hummed "Your right, but you ask me what I preferred, and I was just honest."

Ziva smiled, "I know you were sweetie". She ruffled his hair. "I know that there is something that you would like the share, spit it out."

McGee blushed, he hated that Ziva could see right trough him. "There is someone I like you to meet tomorrow" he said. But I want to keep it a surprise until then." he kissed her on the cheek and turned the TV back up.

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Chapter 7

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The next morning Ziva was highly curious. Even when she had used her 'special' interrogation technique he had not spilled a word about it.

He promised her before the left for work that he would take her right after work.

That afternoon they drove in to a rather 'dark' part of the city and Ziva was happy that she had brought her SIG with her.

They drove in to the parking lot of an old hospital. McGee seemed familiar because everyone greeted him and he knew everyone's name.

Ziva knew that this had to be the place where he did some volunteer work now and then. Whe would always go when she was practicing material arts. It was one of the things that made their relation work. They both had their own things.

They walked through a lot of hallways and ended up in a nursery. They had to scrubs up and wear gowns but after 5 minutes they were ready to go inside.

Ziva was standing next to Tim while looking in all the bassinets.

Tim shifted his gaze to her. "Over one third of the babies here are born with an drug addiction." Ziva's open mouth showed him that she understood and he didn't really feel the need to elaborate.

He walked over to a bassinet in a corner. He picked up a baby and hold it close to him."This is Andy" He held the blue bundle so that Ziva could take a look. The baby didn't look very healthy, it was also obvious that he had Down's Syndrome. Ziva almost melted away looking at the little baby.

"When he was born his mother went back on the streets, her pimp found her and somehow she ended up in the morgue" McGee explained shortly. "Nobody in her family wants to adopt this child."

Ziva knew where he was going with this story.

"Are you sure Timmy?" she asked him. "I am" he answered simply. "He has special needs, but we have enough money thanks to my books. I think that we can give him change on a life that he deserves."

It was obvious that Tim had given this a lot of thought. "Other 'normal' kids have a better change of getting adopted" he shrugged.

"I think we can do this" Ziva said while holding her arms out, wanting to hold the baby.

Tim handed her Andy and walked over to another baby, picking it up and rocking it slowly, so it was calming down. Ziva noticed that this wasn't new to him, but she didn't care to ask at the moment. She was falling in love with Andy.

The next morning they contacted Jocelyn, their caseworker, and told her about their wish to adopt Andy.

When she called them a few hours later she could tell them the happy news that the papers would be ready in 2 days, and then they would be the parents of Andy.

They decided it not to share with the team, not yet. But instead they took the afternoon off and went to a baby store. The room they had in mind for a nursery had soft yellow walls, so there was no need to paint.

They bought everything that they could possibly need that afternoon and took everything home. When everything was ready and settled it was already past nine o'clock and neither of them wanted to cook, so they ordered pizza.

After the last bite of pizza Ziva and McGee looked in to the nursery. McGee stood behind Ziva and put his arms around her waist. Nuzzling his nose in her hair he smiled. "I think we did great"

They had bought creme colored furniture, asking a lot of advice. They wanted to be sure that everything was suitable for a child with a handicap.

The next day they lived on their own pink cloud. Tony, Abby and Gibbs wondered what was happening but Tim told them that they would find out soon enough.

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Chapter 8

The next day Gibbs was ready to slap Ziva and Tim in to the next year when they still hadn't arrived at 10 AM. But when the elevator opened he stared at them with open mouth. He glanced quickly over to Tony and was afraid that his eyes would pop out of his head.

Tim was carrying a baby and Ziva holding a diaper bag.

"We would like you to meet Andy" McGee said. "We adopted him this morning from that hospital in southeastern DC, Port Heron Hospital"

Gibbs knew which hospital he was talking about. He could have known that McGee's heart would be big enough to adopt an underprivileged child.

Tony hoped over to the baby and made a comment that he would regret. "Hey, has your looks, Mcgeek!"

"He has Down's syndrom."

"Like I said" Tony laughed, but even when he tried to be mean it was obvious that he adored the little boy.

"We thought that from all the children there he had the least chance of getting in to regular adoption system. Since Tim makes money enough from his books we decided that we could adopt him."

Gibbs stroked Andy's head, who responded by opening his eyes.

The elevator doors opened again and Abby came running out. "McGee" she yelled "Where is the surprise!?" she asked him. But when she saw the baby she fell silent. "A baby" she whispered. She fell in love the second she saw him.

Tim and Ziva made arrangements about their working hours with the director while Abby showed Andy to the whole agency.

When they were done Gibbs told them to go home and enjoy their time with the baby.

Before they left Abby told them that they had to return the next day around 3pm, but she wouldn't tell why.

The next day they arrived at the HQ and were guided to the biggest conference room. It was decorated with all kinds of balloons, banners and baby things. Tim smiled; leave it to Abby to organize a baby shower in less than 36 hours.

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Chapter 9

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Before they knew it, it was Christmas again. Andy was asleep in his bassinet while his parents looked down at him.

The past weeks had flown by. Sometimes Ziva or Tim had questioned their decision of adopting Andy, but one look at his angel face made them forget and even regret that they had thought that.

They had a schedule with working, feeding and sleeping. Every month he had to go to the hospital for his doctor's appointment. But when Christmas came around it felt like they had been doing this forever.

The Christmas party was again held at their house, and everyone came with tons of gifts. Everyone had bought something special for the others, but the present that stood out the most was Gibbs' present. He had built a beautiful wooden rocking chair for Andy.

Tim and Ziva loved the gift and placed it immediately in Andy's room. Abby claimed that she could sit on it now to give Andy his bottle. Ziva smiled, Abby visited him at least 3 times a week to play with her favorite nephew. She came by and sometimes she did babysitting when McGee and Ziva went out.

Gibbs smiled upon the sight of Tim holding Andy. Being a father changes everything and he hoped and prayed for his agent that he never have to experience the loss of his wife or child.

The boss himself has also a soft spot in his heart for Andy, when Ziva brought him in he played with the boy and DiNozzo would grin at him, knowing how much he loved children.

He didn't like Andy at first. He said it was because he didn't like babies in general, but everyone knew that wasn't the real reason.

For some reason he didn't have much feelings for the handicapped baby. No-one knew the reason for it, but everyone knew better than to ask him about it.

Ducky treated Andy as his own grandchild, spoiling him with presents and stories. Jimmy on the other hand was afraid to touch Andy. He claimed that he could break him, he was after all a little clumsy.

Everyone was enjoying their dinner and having a good time. They talked, laughed and just enjoyed the company. After a while Tony excused himself, saying that he had to go to the bathroom.

A few seconds later Ziva heard crying coming for the baby phone and stood up to check on Andy, but till her surprise she heard someone else enter his room.

She walked over to his room and peaked around the door. There, in the brand new rocking chair, was Tony. Holding Andy.

"You are a very sweet little man" he said while gently rocking him back and forward. "But that's the problem, you remind me to much of Gus." He continued. "You see, Gus was my little brother, and he was just like you and..."

Ziva could see tears welling up in Tony's eyes. She decided that this was a private moment and walked back to the dining room.

'Everything ok?' McGee's eyes asked her.

"Tony's taking care of it" Ziva replied, surprising McGee.

A half hour later Tony came back, he didn't make and excuse for why he had been away so long, he just sad at the table and continued to make conversation.

After desert they watched a movie and a little before midnight everyone was gonna.

Ziva stood in the door frame to Andy's room, wondering who was Gus. After a while she felt McGee coming up behind her, resting his chin on her head.

"Marry Christmas Ziva" Tim said while kissing her head. He hadn't bothered to buy a present this year. He knew that they already had the best present that they could think of.


End file.
